The Hunger Games, Dredd and the 12ification of culture

I initially thought that The Hunger Games was a really good film. A really good film. It had all the ingredients, after all: a perfectly-cast Jennifer Lawrence in the lead role, Suzanne Collins as screenwriter, and a sympathetic director who really seemed to understand the material. The opening scenes of shaky-cammed apocalyptic gloom offset against the slick Truman Show-style televisation were perfectly pitched, so it was disappointing as the film inexorably slid into mediocrity the minute the violence started. Or didn’t, as it turned out. 

It was a dark and stormy night! Scary movies and freak weather

Now that at least everyone I know seems to have checked in safe and well, I wasn’t sure whether to do a Halloween post or a post-Frankenstorm gratitude post, so I figured I’d combine the two. Here’s a handful of fun movies that were set when the weather was less than balmy. 

Surprisingly Informative Jurassic Park Theme Song

It’s the Jurassic Park theme tune, with new lyrics by Brett Domino.

(Found via Buzzfeed)

Red hot: 25 carrot-haired cuties

You might have caught the furore this week when the world’s largest sperm bank called a halt to donations from redheads because supply exceeded demand. In the public interest (and for those in the market for donor sperm) we’d like to remind you all of the finer qualities of the red of hair. Special thanks to Popshifter‘s flame-haired correspondent, Julz Clark Finley, who helped me research this terribly academic article on famous hotties with coppery tresses.

Lines from other films that could have been used in Harry Potter

I was having a bit of a DVD marathon today, re-watching the Harry Potter films in advance of seeing part 2 of Deathly Hallows next week. It occurred to me, while watching the films, that you could have slipped any number of lines from other films into the dialogue with nobody much noticing the difference. For example: